Happy Hour
by anotherweasley
Summary: Jack drags Abbie out for Happy Hour on her last day in the DA's office.


Happy Hour  
By: Olivia  
  
"This must my comfort be,/That sun that warms you here shall shine on me."-William  
Shakespeare-"Richard II"  
  
"I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life/Oh just to be with you is having the  
best day of my life."-Dido-"Thank You"  
  
  
I'm going to miss Jack McCoy. The fact is that I've spent more time with this man than  
probably any other person on this whole planet in the past three years. Despite that, or maybe  
because of it, I'm going to miss him.  
  
Jack insisted on us going out for happy hour on my last day in the DA's office. So we sit at the  
bar laughing and joking, mainly about our work in the DA's office. We reminense over some  
fond memories, most notably our tense beginning working together. We talk about Adam and  
what he's up to. We talk about my new job at the U.S. Attorney's Office and the search for a  
new ADA for Jack.  
  
Our personal lives a bear little on our conversation. We are both workaholics driven on a quest  
to prosecute criminals. Jack is at the top of his game so to speak. I can't imagine the DA's  
office without him. I, on the other hand, am still trying to find my place in the world. I've  
learned a lot from Jack in my years working with him, but I can't stay in his shadow forever.  
  
I smile at Jack when he doesn't notice I'm studying him sipping his scotch. I think I'll always be  
reminded of Jack when I think of scotch. In fact, I thinking I'll always remember him this way.   
For this brief rare moment he is smiling and unfettered by the concerns of a case or staring into  
the souls of the worst humanity has to offer. It is indeed a rare moment for Jack McCoy. And  
then I realize a moment later that it is rare for me also, to be so easy and unguarded.  
  
"So ya'll started the party without us."  
  
I turn around surprised to see the smiling face of Lennie. Right behind him are Anita and Ed.  
  
"You didn't think we were going to let you go and not say good-bye did ya?" says Lennie with a  
smile that is reflected in his eyes.  
  
The three grab chairs and pull themselves up to our table.  
  
I'm so happy to see them. I had wanted to stop by to see them earlier today, but I had gotten  
stuck tying up some loose ends that needed to be taken care of before I left. An ADA's job is to  
be the liaison between the DA's office and the police. I've spent more time with Lennie, Ed, and  
Anita than Jack has gathering evidence to go to trial.   
  
I realize how lucky I am to have gotten to work with them. Sure, I learned a lot about homicide  
investigations from them. And sure, they've gotten evidence to help me convict criminals, but  
the most important thing I'm walking away with is that these are some of the bravest people I  
know. They risk their lives out their in the pursuit and capture of these individuals. I just come  
in and procescute them afterwards.  
  
But I don't have time to continue my thoughts. They have questions about my new job. And of  
course good-humored jokes must be made about the Feds. But they assure me that I'll straighten  
those Feds out.  
  
"I'm sorry I'm late. If I hadn't gotten stuck in that meeting with the Mayor...."  
  
Nora has arrived. We move around the table and make room for her. Out of everyone here, I  
know her the least having worked with her the shortest period of time. And yet she's been a  
good fearless leader for Jack and I, for the DA's office. There's no doubt she's different than  
Adam. Not good or bad, just different. She's gone to bat for Jack and I in the past, so she's got a  
check in my book.  
  
Nora doesn't know the detectives very well, but they soon start asking her questions and talking  
to her so that everyone feels comfortable and at home. That was an interesting use of the word  
home and yet it seems like the perfect way to describe how I'm feeling right now. It's that  
comfortable feeling that you can be yourself and be accepted for it. I'm going to be changing  
that feeling by joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, but that's okay too. Change is important. I  
can't sit still. I need to see what's going on over the next horizon. I need to push myself and see  
if I sink or swim.  
  
Besides, it's not like I'm going to be far away. The U.S. Attorney's Offices are near the DA's  
Offices. I can still drop in on them and say hi. And yet, I know it will never be the same. They  
will soon have a new ADA.  
  
"I'd like to make a toast," said Jack standing up, "to Abbie Carmichael whose been my right  
hand these past three years and who is helluva DA in her own right. She's helped me more than  
I can say. And we all just wanted to say that we will all miss you and you won't be easily  
replaced."  
  
There were a chorus of "here, here's" and raised glasses. My eyes were starting to get blurry.   
I'm not one who gets overly emotional, but I would have had to have been made of stone not to  
be touched by this.  
  
And we continued to talk late into the night. The past, present, and future became all mixed up  
into one long bittersweet moment.  
  
I look forward to my future challenges at my new job, at my chance to grow, at my chance to  
meet new people. And I look at these people surrounding me and I dread leaving them. I laugh  
at myself to think that I thought that I would miss them more than they would ever miss me. I  
think we take ourselves for granted sometimes. We don't realize the impact we've made on  
others. We more readily realize their impact upon us.  
  
The night could not last forever and we parted, eventually, reluctantly. Right now, I need to be  
fighting the good fight in a bigger arena, from a different vantage point. But who knows?   
Maybe someday I'll return. I've seen stranger things.  
  



End file.
